Loria talks Manfred, replay, state of Marlins

MIAMI -- Jeffrey Loria believes the future of Major League Baseball is in good hands with the naming of Rob Manfred as Bud Selig's replacement as the next Commissioner, the Marlins owner told reporters Saturday afternoon as he addressed a number of topics.

"Bud did wonderful things to advance the game," Loria said. "Rob will take it to the next step."

The transition will take place in January.

Among the hot topics awaiting Manfred are the advancement of instant replay overall, and the home-plate collision rule (7:13).

"I don't know what they're going to do with replay," the Marlins owner said. "The play at the plate, obviously, is very controversial. Manfred has great insight into the game. He will figure out where we will go with all of that."

The Marlins on July 31 were involved in a disputed overturned play at the plate that went against them in a 3-1 loss to the Reds. Instant replay changed an original out call, which enabled Zack Cozart to score a run in what became the game-changing eighth inning.

"Any time you start to do something new, you have to re-examine it," Loria said. "It's going to be re-examined at the end of the year."

As for the direction of the Marlins, they've been one of the surprise teams in baseball. A year ago, they lost 100 games, relying heavily on either rookies or young core players. Now, they're in the National League Wild Card mix.

"I love what they're doing," Loria said.

The organization overhauled its roster after the 2012 season, and now the nucleus is maturing. The plan is to build around its core players.

"Great stability now on this team," Loria said. "We needed to get to that point. We were not going to be successful with the way we were before last year. We have great people running the organization. Great, wonderful players."

Success in the standings led to the team becoming buyers before the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. As part of the deal, Miami acquired Jarred Cosart and Enrique Hernandez from the Astros for prospects Jake Marisnick and Colin Moran.

"There were other things we would have liked to have [done]," Loria said. "But because there were so many other teams that were in the mix, it wasn't an easy thing to do at the Trade Deadline. We're not willing to give away our pitching just for the sake of making a deal."